Twist of Fate
by Arrghus
Summary: An ancient prophecy foretells the arrival of eight powerful beings and how they will trump darkness and save the world. But something goes wrong. Or rather, everything does. Dead.
1. Dusty Fighting

Prologue 1

The Angel shivered a bit, despite the heat. In front of him stood his greatest adversary as of yet, the Dark Dragon, a being of such immense power that his mere presence ensured that anyone with even the slightest shiver of sanity was miles away.

Yet here he stood, ready for a fight to the death against that very being.

The Dragon however didn't seem to be bothered by his impending doom. As a matter of fact he was slightly amused.

- So, here you are, _Angel_, he said, with a slight ironic tone on the word angel.

- Yes, here I am to defeat you and end your reign of fear and tyranny, the Angel responded in a loud and powerful voice.

- My reign of what, the Dragon laughed. Please, this is a desert, who could possibly rule over a desert.

- Nevertheless you have slaughtered many innocent Digimon, the Angel proceeded. Do you deny that?

- So I've killed some innocents and now you're going to punish me, _you_, the Dragon sneered. That's the problem you angel types. Give someone a pair of wings and he goes on a crusade to pure the Digiworld of evil. Tell me, kid, what's the most powerful Digimon you've defeated? Poyomon?

- Daemon, the Angel said confidently as he heightened his holy weapon and spoke the sacred words.

A bright burst of light erupted, forcing the Dragon to brace himself and close his eyes. When he opened them, the Angel was already right in front of him and delivering another attack, striking him directly with his "weapon".

The Dragon blocked the attack and took to air, flying straight upwards.

Now it was the Angels time to sneer.

- You think you can defeat me in the air. I am an angel. Is this your famed battle prowess? he shouted as he flew upwards after his opponent

- Idiot! I have access to abilities you cannot even dream of. You even dare question my power. THIS is my power.

And with a terrible incantation the Dragon summoned a large, destructive sphere of pure darkness and fired it at his opponent.

The Angel barely avoided the attack and returned fire with the sacred light.

- Power is worthless if you can't hit me, he half sneered, half boasted.

The Dragon simply laughed at this.

- The whole purpose of my attack was to trick you up into the air, he answered. Now you're at my mercy.

And with another incantation the Dragon created a fierce whirlwind that raised the sand around them and caught the Angel in a hurricane level sandstorm.

- Foolish Angel, the Dragon shouted through the storm. You came here to destroy me but when I absorb you I will only get stronger.

By now the Angel was desperate. The Dragon was right. With the Angels energies in combination with his already large power, the Dragon would be unstoppable. There was only one thing to do. He was going to regret it, but he had brought this on himself. With a faint voice he recited the ancient story about the light that would free his world of the darkness that had it in its grasp. And then he began with what was his final hope.

The Dragon broke his attack when he saw a faint light in the middle of all of the sand. When his storm had subsided the Dragon looked around. His opponent was nowhere to be seen. The Dragon let gravity take control of him and slowly lowered towards the seemingly unharmed ground. That was the good thing with fighting in a large sandbox. Nobody could tell that the area had first been hit with an exploding sphere and then lifted up in the air.

- Fool, the Dragon muttered as he walked away, not noticing an egg, about the size of an aubergine, lying half-buried in the sand.

**The Angel and the Dark Dragon are in reality named something else.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, Poyomon or Daemon. Neither do I own any other Digimon except for those that are created by me. **


	2. The Prophecy

Prologue 2

Imagine a room. The walls are made of rough stone; apparently we are in some sort of natural cave. The floor is cowered with a thick rug. Standing at one of the walls is a bookcase, filled from top to toe with strange titles like "Digital prophecies" and "Dark Digivolution, terrible or terrific". Beside it is a small chest of drawers. In a corner there's a small TV marked "Patamonic". In the middle there is a small, low table, and that is what actually matters in our story. Or rather, the man who's sitting at the table. He is in his mid-twenties, yet at the same time he is about a hundred years old, and his memory stretches back to the dawn of his world. He wears a cloak sewn together by leaves and vines. In front of him is something that looks like an old piece of crisp bread. Beside him is a small dog with a golden necklace. We'll call the man Manuel, for that is his name.

Manuel sighed.

- We'll try this another time, his furry companion said.

"_Eight shall be called and eight there shall be/ Beings with power to unlock the seed/ Defeat the darkness, destroy its core/ Digimon follow them, they evolve to more/ Symbolical secrets, Summon them here/ But you must be careful, Danger is near/ Please do not litter". _

- It's no use, Manuel said. We need to do something more than just recite the prophecy. Think, think Manuel. What would Gennai do?

Flashback

Manuel, now dressed in a long white coat is discussing with another, identical white dressed man

- … But I don't get it, Gennai. If these Digimon we're creating are so powerful, why are we hiding here?

- Manuel, these Digimon have the potential for power. Right now they're just completely ordinary Digi-eggs. The secret lies in the other things. The Digivices connects with the otherworldly beings known as humans and channel their excess energy into the Digimon. The crests in turn can, when used in conjunction with the digivices, amplify the energy created to incredibly powerful levels using human emotions. We also equipped them with a load of funny stuff like a clock and a built lamp.

- But why is it so needlessly complicated. If these humans are so powerful why don't we just summon a few, give them this stuff and watch them kick the ass of evil everywhere?

- It just doesn't work that way, Manuel.

- Why not?!

- I wish I knew, but I don't. Gennai frowns. That knowledge is a secret even to us.

Manuel was forcefully thrown out of his old memory by the revelation.

- The Crests!

- What? said a startled Salamon.

- Of course, Manuel muttered. "Symbolical secrets". He cleared his throat and looked at the confused Digimon.

- Get the crests, Salamon.

- Will do, the Digimon answered and went over to the chest of drawers, pulling out the lowest drawer with her teeth. She opened it and pulled out six golden necklaces, each with a small symbol on it (a sun, a yin yang symbol, a heart, a drop of water, an infinity symbol and a cross), and brought them back to Manuel.

- Thank you, Manuel said and pulled out two necklaces of his own (with an angel and a star on them). He cleared the table and placed the necklaces on it, forming a small circle. After that, he began to recite the prophecy once more.

A speckle of light appeared in each of the necklaces and as Manuel recited it grew stronger until it looked like it could tear reality itself apart (which it by the way could).

As Manuel finished the prophecy the light exploded in an enormous flash. When it had faded Manuel turned towards Salamon.

- Well they aren't here so they're probably in the area somewhere, Manuel said. Go and get Patamon and tell him you're on search duty. He added, in a military tone. There are eight humans out there. Find them and bring them back here.

- Okay, but one question, Salamon responded. What does a human look like?

- I don't really know, but they're not Digimon, plant or fish, so you'll probably know when you see one. Move out.

- Sir yes sir, Salamon joked and ran out into the wilderness, only stopping to bark at a winged dog-like Digimon.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**


	3. Computers

**This story is based around the original Digimon Adventures world with the important change that Apocalymon was never born, but his data was rather continually recycled into Primary Village. Thus, the Dark Masters never appeared and other forces grew strong in their place. Thus, history changed dramatically and, as a result, the present.**

Chapter 1

Part 1

The bell rang and signalled the end of school. Paula quickly gathered her books and left class at a fast pace. She needed to meet Thomas in the computer room and then she needed to get home to enjoy the Easter holiday. Easter. She had almost forgotten about that with all the lessons and stuff. But first she needed to meet Thomas. In the computer room. Now. As she passed the lockers a couple of girls called for her attention.

- "Hi Paula. Did you hear what that dork Timothy did?"

Paula walked straight past them. She didn't know what had happened and to be honest she didn't care. People were always on about Timothy anyways. It was probably something stupid like him being late again anyways. Everybody hated Timothy for some reason. He didn't fit in. He wasn't normal. Paula herself didn't care much. Timothy was polite and honest. To her it didn't matter what he looked like.

Paula smacked herself in the forehead. Now she did it again. She remembered what had happened last time she tried to stand up for somebody with bad status. That hadn't been nice. She looked up. There was the computer room. She walked in and went straight up to Thomas to see what it was that he wanted to see her about that was important enough to interrupt Easter.

- "Oh, hi Paula". Thomas said and looked up. "I just wanted to talk a bit to you before Easter since we probably won't see each other for a week."

- "Was it something special that you wanted to tell me?"

- "As a matter of fact, there is something I've wanted to tell you for a while."

- "Well what is it then."

- "I want to tell you that …"

At just that moment another person entered the scene.

- "Hello Paula, hello Thom…as."

- "Hi Sophie." But the girl was staring at Thomas with a look of horror in her face.

- "I swear." She almost whimpered. "It wasn't my intention. It was a mistake."

- "It wasn't your intention?" Thomas said with a sudden chill. "You monster of an o…"

- "That's enough, Thomas!" Paula furiously interrupted. "You'll not destroy my holiday with your teasing."

- "You don't understand." Thomas snapped. "This is between me and Sophie."

Paula punched Thomas. Hard. In the stomach.

- "Hey"! Sophie called out. "Mind the computer."

But Thomas inevitably fell towards the computer. But instead of breaking it, as soon as he touched the screen it shone up brightly. When the light faded, Thomas was nowhere to be seen.

- "Thomas!" both girls screamed in shock.

A small message appeared on the screen. Both girls moved in to read it.

It said "I'm terribly sorry for this."

Another bright flash, and when an angry teacher came by to see what the commotion was all about, there was no one to be seen.

Part 2

Mr John Abbot looked at the three and sighed.

- "Again." he said in a tired voice. "I swear; you alone have given me more troubles than all of the other kids together."

- "He insulted my brother." Matilda said.

- "Look, I just told him to move out of my way". Robin answered. "He was blocking the whole corridor and I was in kind of a hurry; which I still am, by the way."

- "You swore at him."

- "Well as I said I was in kind of a hurry."

- "That doesn't give you the right to swear at my brother."

- "Well excuse me, _Sheriff._"

- "That's enough!"

- "I agree." Mr Abbot interrupted. "That's enough. For both of you. Michael, could you please explain to me what really happened."

- "Certainly sir". Said the third kid, a tall, handsome boy. "I was talking to Charles when Robin tried to push me out of the way, said something about being in a hurry. When I didn't budge, Robin called me "dull womanizer" and told me to move out of the way. My sister was in the vicinity and, well I think you can figure out what happened after then."

- "How hurt is Robin?" Mr Abbot sighed, this had happened many times before.

- "Not at all actually." Robin answered. "You got there before _Sheriff _Matilda caused any injury."

Mr Abbot raised hand to quell any arguments before they rose and looked at the two perpetrators.

- "Well I can't think of anything that could make you stop with these things so I think I will call for someone more experienced. Could you please stay here while I go get the principal?"

And with those words Mr Abbot left the room and the three kids in it alone.

Robin went over to the teacher's computer.

- "Hey!" Matilda called out. "What do you think you're doing?"

- "I'm just going to check out if that Simpsons episode is going to air again anytime soon since I've missed it due to all this mess. It'll only take a second."

- "No you're not." Matilda replied and walked up behind Robin, trying to seize the kid. Michael followed her, ready to try and stop the two, should things spiral out of control.

However, during the fight Matilda accidentally touched the computers keyboard with her elbow. A bright flash, and when Mr Abbot returned with the principal, the kids appeared to have escaped from the room.

Part 3

"This wasn't so bad, after all." Timothy thought. He had a fairly interesting book about vampires and his flashlight gave him just enough light to read it despite the fact that he couldn't turn on the lighting from the inside. There was a something to sit on and plenty of water should he get thirsty. Timothy turned the page. "This wasn't so bad," he thought again. "This wasn't bad at all. Being locked up in a water closet was much better than he had expected."

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**

**Part 1 and 2 describes how the kids end up in the Digital World as well as hinting at their personalities and relationships. Part 3 introduces a parallel side-story about Timothy (who is, by the way, not part of the DigiDestined team).**


	4. It's a dream, right

Chapter 2

Part 1-Waking up.

Millions of questions rushed through Thomas's head. Why did his stomach hurt? Where was he? What had happened to his clothes? They felt different. Suddenly, his memories returned. He remembered what had happened. Oh what a beating Sophie was going to get. That little o… wait? Something was poking his chest. Thomas opened his eyes.

What happened then made him wish he hadn't.

- "Oh how good that you're awake." exclaimed a small, yellow, dog-like creature with something looking like wings growing out of its head. "I was afraid I'd have to carry you all the way back."

For a brief moment, Thomas considered screaming. However, he didn't as the apparently very solid hallucination would probably consider it impolite. He wondered briefly what kind of drug or brain damage was causing him to see and feel all these things, or if it was all just a dream. Whatever it was, it was very well made; the trees around them looked almost real, save for the traffic sign, pointing upwards, that apparently showed the way to "Seraphimoon," wherever that was.

- "Would you mind standing up or will I have to lift you." The illusion muttered irritably. "And while we're at it, could you wake those others up."

- "OK OK, whatever." Thomas muttered back and got up to see who it was that he was dreaming about. It was, not surprisingly, Paula and… Sophie. Defenceless. In a dream were there would be no long lasting after effects. Perfect. Thomas got up and walked over to the unconscious girl, smiling sinisterly.

He began with shaking her roughly. She would need to be awake to fully understand exactly what she had gotten into this time.

- "Careful, we don't want to hurt anyone, do we?" the annoying piece of imagination asked worriedly.

- "Yes we do," Thomas answered and raised his hand, preparing to punch the little o…

- "No we don't!" Paula had awakened and was staring hatefully at the brown-haired boy.

- "Paula!" Thomas exclaimed and looked in shock at the furious girl; he had completely forgotten that she was there.

- "Yes, me, Thomas. And you're not hurting Sophie, or anyone else for that matter."

- "But you don't understand…"

- "It doesn't matter if I don't understand whatever idiotic reason you have to dislike Sophie. Bet it's something like her being a Jew anyway.

- "Well, excuse me!"

Another voice cut off:

- "Could the two of you stop bickering, please?" It was the small dog-hamster, which was somehow keeping itself in the air with its small wings. Sophie and Paula stared at it. Thomas took the chance to slip out of her grip. "Good," the yellow thingy proceeded. "Could you please follow me now?"

- "Well okay then." the three said in unison.

- "But keep an eye on Thomas here, would you."

- "Well that seems reasonable." the big hamster gladly replied and took seat on Thomas's head. He wasn't really that heavy, Thomas noted before beginning to walk in the direction the yellow rodent told him to.

Part 2-Certainly a strange dream

Thomas didn't like the way this dream turned out, it was too boring. Paula and Sophie were talking about some, no doubt boring, subject. It was then that he got his brilliant idea. He was in a dream, and when you didn't like the way a dream turned out all you had to do, was pinch yourself. Thomas was sure that if he pinched himself hard enough, he would snap out of this boring dream.

He tried. It didn't work. Well, Thomas figured, that was hardly a pinch. Perhaps if he tried for real this time. Thomas closed his eyes and pinched his arm for all he could.

He opened his eyes. Everything was still there.

- "May I be so bold as to ask why you are hurting yourself?" the hamster on his head asked.

- "I'm trying to wake up."

- "Wake up? Do your kind Digivolve through physical pain?"

- "Digiwhat?" Thomas tilted his head towards, only to hear a slight thump as the hamster fell onto the ground."

- "You don't know about Digivolution? That's certainly strange." The hamster replied as it got itself up in the air and started to fly beside him."

- "Why would I want to know about something that only exists in a dream?"

- "Dream? What do you mean with dream?"

- "Well this is obviously a dream. Nothing like this can possibly exist. Therefore, as I don't do drugs, this must be a dream."

- "I don't feel like I'm a dream."

- "Well, that's the thing with dreams. Usually you don't know that they're dreams before you wake up."

- "Sounds strange to me. But why do you think this is a dream?"

- "Well, something like this could not possibly happen so following the famous formula of master detective Sherlock Holmes, it isn't."

- "Sherlock whomon?"

- "You don't know about Sherlock Holmes? You're certainly one strange hamster."

- "Excuse me, but the name's Patamon. What's your name, by the way?"

- "Thomas Anderson." Thomas stated glumly while silently adding "Insert random Matrix joke here." To his surprise, Patamon bypassed that entirely and chose another subject to focus on.

- "Anderson? Is that your Adult form?

Thomas blinked and almost stopped:

- "Adult form? What do you mean with adult form?"

- "Well, I figured Thomas must be your Child form, seeing as you mentioned it first and that's what the others call you, I was a bit confused about your name not ending with -mon; then again Manuel's doesn't either so that's not too strange. Anyway, what's your Adult form like, Thomas? I bet it's cool."

- "Whoa whoa whoa, slow down now. What do you mean with adult form? I'm just a teenager. And who's Manuel?"

- "Manuel is the guy who summoned you here. He's the one we're going to right now."

- "Summoned?"

- "I don't really know what he did though. I was asleep at the time."

- "You were asleep!?" Thomas sweatdropped.

- "Hey! I needed the energy."

- "Yeah, sure did."

- "Hey, I'm actually quite powerful."

- "If you say so."

- "Don't underestimate me. I'm not as weak as you may think."

- "OK."

- "Well, take this!" Patamon breathed in, growing to almost double size before…

- "Patamon!" a small, palely yellow dog shouted as it appeared from behind a bush in the vicinity. "Stop that immediately!"

Part 3-Dressing

- "Sorry, Salamon."

- "Hey, Thomas!" Three more appeared from behind the tree; Thomas recognized the face of two of them, Michael Dale and his twin sister Matilda.

- "Hi Michael!" Thomas responded to his old friends greeting.

- "How do you like the new outfits?"

- "Huh?"

Michael positively stared at Thomas:

- "You didn't notice?"

- "No, not really. Something got in the way." Thomas held up his arm. It was covered with a piece of black garment, embroidered with a familiar symbol. Michael, being who he was, obviously misunderstood it:

- "You've got a hook-cross on your sleeve."

- "It's called a swastika, Michael"

- "But why do you have it, I mean, it is a Nazi symbol after all."

- "Or an Ancient sun symbol, or the symbol of the god Brahma, or even a sign for vegetarian food. The "hook-cross" means a lot of things."

- "Well, I guess it's not too strange. Look at the others clothes."

Thomas looked, and what he saw quite surprised him. Everyone wore extremely strange clothing. Aside from his swastika-covered sleeves, Thomas wore a military jacket and brown trousers. Paula had a red dress with a slight cleavage while Sophie wore a white coat that reached down to her ankles, with a pair of matching trousers covering the rest of her legs.

Still, Michael's sister Matilda probably had the strangest clothing of all; she wore some kind of thick white shirt and, of all things, a long, black skirt. To top it all off, she actually looked content with the outfit. Due to his friendship with Michael, Thomas had gotten to know Matilda, and if there was anything that he knew, then that was that the girl would never, ever be caught dead in a skirt.

- "Why hasn't Matilda ripped that skirt to pieces yet?" Thomas whispered to the girl's brother, being careful not to let said girl hear what he said; Matilda was known for her temper.

- "Because it's not a skirt, just a pair of really wide trousers." the boy answered, not appearing to care one wit whether or not he was being overheard. "It's called a "hakama". Sis' wears it during her training."

- "Okay, I get it." Thomas finished, and continued his examination. A strange kid he vaguely noticed as someone in Michael's class was walking at the back; his clothing included a black shirt and blue jeans.

Michael himself wore quite simple clothing, a hat to protect against the sun, a green shirt and tan shorts. Having gotten pretty tired of the long walk, Thomas turned to Patamon again with a question that has been asked by travelling kids for all of eternity:

- "When do we get to this Manuel anyways?"

However, it was the dog, Salamon, that answered his question:

- "Right now." she responded calmly, looking up as the forest thinned to reveal a cavern "Home sweet home."

The interior of the cave was well lit up and could probably have been mistaken for a completely normal living room if it hadn't been for the fact that the walls were made of rough stone. In the middle of the room, beside a small table, sat a young man. He looked up when the kids entered the room, and immediately began an apparently well prepared speech:

- "Welcome, DigiDestined. You're confused, slightly exhausted and probably thirsty. Before you ask, yes I did summon you here. It wasn't fair to do it without asking, but believe me when is say that it was necessary. You see, the future of our world depend on the… six of you?" the man abandoned his speech to stare dumbfounded at the kids. "There are only six of you? But the prophecy said eight? How can this be?"

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**


	5. Symbolical lies

Chapter 3

Part 1-Choice.

Robin was bored out of his mind. The wacky animals had gone on some sort of mission. That girl in the white robes was talking to the geezer about "destiny" and other boring stuff. Michael was talking to some guy in military clothes. Matilda was doing some of her Yoga stuff; for once not trying to kill anyone. And then there was that blonde girl over in the corner.

Robin went over to talk to her:

- "So, what's your name?"

The girl frowned before replying:

- "Paula. Paula Carter." in a slightly confused tone.

- "And the frown?" Robin asked.

- "Nothing, just some stupid idea." the girl replied, shaking her head. "By the way, what's your name?"

- "Robin Copper." Robin said and held out his hand.

Paula took it and shook it firmly.

- "Nice to meet you." she said. "So, what do you think of all of this?"

- "You mean the place, or how we came here?"

- "Well we'll start with the place."

- "Strange. And calm. Too calm."

- "Yeah, thought about that too. No bugs, no birds, no nothing. And what's with all those signs. It's weird."

The old man suddenly catched their attentions with a loud cough.

- "Through discussion with your lovely friend here, I have asserted that you are indeed humans. There is but one test left to perform. On this table lies eight "crests", six of which correspond to one of your persons. I ask of you to have patience with me; once this final test is done, I will explain everything. Just go to the table and pick up the crests, one after one. Pick one of them, and the test will be over."

- "Yeah, ok, whatever." Robin muttered and crossed the room to check those stupid things.

Robin picked up the first one and looked at it. Some brass crap with an orange glass shard in it. The second one was just as stupid, only blue. Robin turned to the third. It was red, with some kind of twisted heart on it. He shrugged, and picked it up when a warm feeling spread from the hand and through his body.

- "Hey, old man, I'll take this one."

- "Then the crest of love is yours, young man. Next, please."

- "Wait, love?"

- "Yes, love"

- "That's strange. Shouldn't the one with love be a girl?"

- "Do you want another crest?"

- "Whatever." Robin shook his head. "Just go on."

- "Then I believe that your lovely companion in the red dress is up next."

Paula took the orange one almost immediately. Next up was that guy with hook-crosses. He picked the blue one. Michael had to go through the whole heap before taking one with grey glass in it. Destiny-girl picked a purple one and then Old Man put a green one on Matilda, barely avoiding her counter to this "attack".

- "Now that that's sorted out." Old man massaged his nose. "I believe it is time to tell you about the reason you're here."

- "Here we go." Robin sighed.

Part 2-Exposition

Michael studied Manuel in detail. Something was bugging him. Michael could read people pretty well, and something with this old man was, off. Oh well. Might as well listen to him.

- "This is the Digital World, a dimension created by the lost data from your own world."

- "Great, great, get on with the story." Robin interrupted.

- "Well, if you insist. Approximately twenty years ago, a fiend of enormous power rose to power and went on a rampage, destroying many innocent Digimon, that's the name of our world's inhabitants." He added before continuing. "The name of this demon was VenomMyotismon, and not even the Sovereigns, the gods of our world, could stop him. Therefore, Operation:Genesis was started." Manuel paused to breathe.

- "The Sovereigns assigned a group of the finest specialists in a large number of subjects to create the ultimate Digimon to stop VenomMyotismon. In the end, we succeeded. Eight powerful Digimon were created, and in a climactic battle, the enemy was defeated. However, the power needed drained the digital world and turned large parts of it into a wasteland. We tried everything, but despite our sacrifices, the Digital World is dying. As a last pitch attempt, I summoned you here to help us. You see, it is theorized that our world was originally spawned from yours, and it is our hope that you will be able to restore it as well." He paused, looking at the children with hope and, was that guilt in his eyes.

- "So, what are we supposed to do?" Michael asked.

- "Just go out into the world and look around. I am not really certain what the effects of humans in the Digital World are, but hopefully you will discover that on your journey. Any questions?"

- "Yeah, why us? Did we win the lottery?"

This question seemed to make Manuel feel a bit awkward, though he hid it well:

- "The spell I used summoned the most suitable people .There is a reason that you are here rather than some other people. Anything more?"

After about one minute of silence Manuel apparently decided that there wasn't anything more to say:

- "So that is it then. Move out." Manuel added in what was probably meant to be a joking tone.

- "Wait, what about food? Michael called out, remembering that they weren't in the city anymore.

- "That, will not be a problem. I do not know how much energy humans need to survive, but this area is rich with all kinds of food, and should you leave it, you will probably have learned enough of our world to find food wherever you are going."

- "Okay, let's go then!" Michael told the others, he had gotten an idea.

- "But…"

- "Let's go!" Michael concluded in a tone that actually got the others on their feet.

- "Okay then." Matilda added in, apparently catching on to his plan. "Let's go."

The others, still a bit suggestive from everything, rose and followed Michael and Matilda out. Once out, however, Michael quickly went off track, holding up a finger to his mouth and moving closer to the cave again. From the position he had chosen, he was completely invisible from the cave, while still being able to hear what was said inside. That smartass dog was talking to Manuel.

- "Wow, you screwed up big time."

- "Yes, but on the other hand you didn't exactly perform your part of the plan."

- "Still, it doesn't make you a better liar, either."

Part 3-Phone call

After a while, Timothy was let out, William needed to use the toilet, and the other boys were bored of locking him in anyway. Too few screams for mercy.

Anyway, after being stripped of his book (which he had finished, anyway) Timothy got going for the library. He needed a new book to read, and it was a place as good as anywhere to go. It wasn't as if he had to go home anytime soon.

While going there, however, he was interrupted by a loud beeping noise. It was his mobile phone.

"That's odd" Timothy thought. Nobody had his number as he only used it to play games on. Anyway, someone had called him. Timothy picked up the phone. It was a hidden number calling him.

Timothy pressed the small button on his phone, accepting the call.

A bright light, and then, a forest.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**


	6. Many paths

Chapter 4

Part 1-What?

A while later, the children had regrouped in a small glade, sitting or standing in a ring.

- "Well?" Paula asked "What did you hear?"

- "We've been tricked." Michael replied, punching a tree in frustration "It was all just a lie."

- "Okay," Thomas said "Then we've got to think. We don't know where we are, we don't know how we came here, we don't know how much and about what Manuel lied, in short, we don't know a thing. So what are we going to do?"

- "I suggest we put as much distance between ourselves and Manuel as possible." Michael said, carefully checking the condition of his wrist.

- "Sounds like a plan."

- "And then it'll be just like the good old days, won't it." Robin interjected angrily "You and your team, all looking up to you and following your lead. Tell you what, I quit."

- "What?!" All of the others stared in shock at him.

- "I quit." Robin repeated. "I'm sick and tired of you and your superior attitude. I'll find my own way out of this."

- "What superior attitude?" Sophie asked "He's trying to help."

- "Oh please." Robin answered. "Who do you think is going to lead this? Michael. Who's the great scout who knows all about herbs and stuff? Michael. Who's the only thing holding the party together? Michael!" His voice was soaked in sarcasm. "Well not this party. I'll go my own way!"

- "**Robin!**" Matilda stared at the boy, appearing to be able to explode at any moment.

- "Calm down, Matilda." Michael said, grabbing his sister's arm. "So you want to leave, Robin." he continued, turning to the other boy. "Don't you understand how dangerous it might be here? This is an entirely different world we're talking about."

- "Exactly. Your scouting stuff is worthless here. I might have been pulled in here against my will, but I'm NOT being pushed around by some hypocritical smarmodon. Ever. Period."

- "Hold it!" Thomas almost shouted. "We need to stick together. We can't survive if we split up like this."

However, his words had almost the opposite effect of the intended. As if on cue Paula rose.

- "I'll follow you." she said.

- "What?!" the others said in a strange sense of déjà vu

- "I'll probably have the same chance of survival anyway, and this way I can get away from a certain someone." she shot a murdering glance at Thomas. "And I'd suggest you to come with us as well, Sophie. It'd do you well to get away from Mr Nazi."

- "I'm not Nazi!" Thomas actually did shout this time.

- "Oh yeah?" Paula replied coolly, pointing at Thomas's sleeves, namely, the "hook-crosses" on them. "Explain those!"

- "Dammit, those are swastikas; they mean a load of other…"

- "I agree." Sophie suddenly said.

- "What?" Thomas and Paula, unified by their confusion, turned to the thoughtful girl.

- "I'll follow Paula and… Robin, was it?" after a nod from the boy she continued. "While the reasons Paula stated were not the most relevant, she nevertheless has a point. If we temporarily ignore the fact that Manuel might have been lying to us about us being quite safe here, the grouping is more of a question of comfort than actual survival, something which is anyway quite difficult if Manuel actually did lie about those specific facts. As such, I believe that I will accompany your little group.

- "So you're splitting up the group." Matilda said, somehow having grasped all of Sophie's speech in an instant.

- "In a way, yes, though it was fairly split already." Sophie replied calmly.

- "I think you'll regret this." Michael began. "Buuut on the other hand I don't think I can really influence your decision.

- "Damn straight." Robin said triumphantly.

- "OK. Go." Thomas said to the other group. "There's just one thing I want to know, though." He fixed his eyes on Sophie. "Why?"

- "I've already told you." Sophie replied, with a determined, even steely tone in her voice.

- "Well, goodbye then."

And the two walked separate paths, unfortunately not understanding the aggravation their choice inflicted on a certain other person present, although not in plain sight.

- "Well, this is going to be a mess." Patamon muttered to no one specifically.

Part 2-Bat.

Timothy looked around. The area looked like the dream of someone who's had an especially boring day. The signs, while certainly random, seemed to be fairly normal in comparison to Timothy's own dreams.

"Guess the only thing I can do is look around." Timothy thought. He'd read about stuff like this before. His phone seemed to have vanished so he'd just have to look around. Alien abduction or dimension travelling, he didn't know which one was worse. Anyway, he should probably get going.

After a while, Timothy heard a faint sound from a nearby bush. It seemed that some kind of bat had got caught in the branches. Timothy wondered briefly how it had gotten stuck in the first place before bending a couple branches, releasing the poor thing.

The bat flew up to Timothy's face, looked into his eyes, and nodded, as if thanking him for his help. Wait, **nodded**!? Bats weren't even supposed to be sentient, much less polite. Well, nobody had said this place would make sense anyway, so one should probably be prepared for anything. Speaking of which.

The bat seemed to have gotten an idea. It had flown a bit to the right, and seemed to urge Timothy to follow. Timothy followed it, not really knowing what else to do.

After what seemed like hours of walking (not that he had ever been that good at measuring time), stopping only to hide as a larger than life cat white ran past them. Timothy thought something was odd with the cat, but before he could get a good look, it was already long gone.

Finally, they stopped at cave. The bat somehow managed to tell him it wanted him to stay where he were while it went into the cave, though how Timothy managed to read this out of it's seemingly random movements was quite the mystery, even to himself.

A couple of minutes passed, and then the bat came out, carrying with it a small trinket of some sort. It cast one look at Timothy, telling him to follow it and make as little noise. Timothy did what it "said", though he was quite tired of walking by now.

This time, it didn't take that long before they arrived at their destination. The bat paused in a small glade, apparently waiting for something, or someone.

A moment later, a tall man entered the glade, and, despite all of the previous events, he was probably the strangest thing Timothy had ever seen in real life (or whatever this was).

The man was easily taller than any normal person, almost twice Timothy's size. He wore an expensive suit and his face, partially obscured by a red mask, was purple, like on a recently killed corpse.

- "Excuse me." The man said, and took a single step towards the little bat that had helped Timothy. What happened then was one of the last things Timothy had expected, even in this world.

The man grabbed the bat, clenching it in his fist until it somehow dissipated into small fragments that in turn flew into his black cloak leaving nothing but whatever trinket the bat had taken out of the cave.

Timothy backed slowly. Suddenly, the trees behind him seemed much less weird and, especially, more safe.

The vampire didn't seem to notice his behaviour, or maybe he just didn't care.

- "You'll have to excuse me for my rudeness, sir." He said. "My name is lord Vamdemon and I am very much pleased to meet you, mister…" He paused, fishing for a name.

Timothy just stared blankly into space. Had this man just called him a _sir_?

- "Excuse me, I didn't catch that. What did you say your name was?" The man, Vamdemon, repeated.

- "Timothy." Timothy said, looking at his feet. The man seemed so supreme in his appearance and manners that Timothy did not dare to even look him in the eyes.

- "Ah, a pleasure to meet you. Did the plan go along smoothly?"

- "Plan?"

- "Oh, my bad. Sometimes I forget that my bats can't actually talk. What I meant was the plan to steal the crest of light."

- "Steal… wait, your bats."

- "Yes," Vamdemon said, effortlessly pulling a bat, identical to the one Timothy had seen earlier, out of thin air. "My bats."

Dimension hopping, sentient bats, and now a bat-summoning vampire. This was just too much. The forest began to swirl, and moments later, everything became dark.

Vamdemon looked down at the unconscious boy. His lips curled in a slight smile.

- "Well, this simplifies things." The vampire said and picked up the boy, summoned a swarm of bats and flew away, headed straight for the castle.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**

P.S. For those of you who think parts of this don't story fit together, I assure you I have thought out thisthoroughly and, so far, everything that has happened, has happened for a reason. D.S.

P.P.S. Also, since the basic frame for the story is laid out, I would greatly appreciate some constructive criticism. Non-constructive criticism is also appreciated, though. D.D.S.

P.P.P.S. As for things that differ in name depending on localizations (Such as most Digimon and the evolution levels) I'm simply going to take what suits me the most. D.D.D.S.

P.P.P.P.S. I like to put in redundant footnotes D.D.D.D.S.


	7. Mind Games

Chapter 5

Part 1-Unwanted transference

The little creature looked out of the small cavity it had dug for itself in the sands. Then, it turned its attention to its own body. The seal had almost broken, he would probably start transforming any minute now.

In a moments notice, he realised what he had to do. Kind of ironic, really, to sacrifice all of that power only for that to happen. But God had told him to "Never, no matter the consequences, release the Demon". With those words fresh in his mind, he cleansed his mind and soul, releasing all of his existence into God's hands, ready to start anew.

Part 2-Wondering monsters

The two girls and boy were moving in an undetermined direction, away from the place where the group had split up.

- "So," Sophie began. "Now that we've calmed down a bit, could you care to explain to us exactly who you are?"

- "Name's Robin." Robin replied bluntly.

- "Seeing as how we're probably going to be stuck here for a potentially indefinite amount of time, a little more than 'Name's Robin' would be helpful."

- "OK, OK, My full name is Robin Copper, I'm 16 years old, and I like anime. OK, now it's your turn. What's your name?

- "Come on." Paula stared at Robin inquiringly. "You've got to give us something more. Isn't there something you dislike?"

- "Boy, where should I start. Well there's the school food, people who ask too many questions, people in general, Michael, art, homework, commercials, maths, I dislike most things really."

- "What's this stuff about this Michael, anyway."

- "Geez, what is this, an interview."

- "Pretty much."

- "He's just rotten. Rotten to the core." Robin tried to punctuate the conversation, but Paula wouldn't have that.

- "Come on, spill the beans." She pushed on.

- "I said no!"

- "Come on." But at that point Sophie cut in.

- "If he doesn't want to tell you then it is impolite to press charges." Sophie fixed Paula's gaze with her eyes, unwavering, until Paula looked away.

- "Thanks for busting me out, uh, who were you again?" Robin asked.

- "Sophie Schmieder, certified know-it-all."

- "Heh, nice one." Robin snickered. "Got any interests, besides irony?"

- "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Most prevalent among them is the acquisition of knowledge and search of truth, though I do not mind a good brain-teaser either."

Robin stared at her dumbfounded.

- "Oookay, could you say that again." He said. "In English, please."

- "She means that she likes to read, study, and do math problems." Paula explained with more than just a little bore in her voice, while Sophie snickered. "I've known Sophie for quite a while, and after a while you learn how to decipher it." She paused, before adding gleefully "If you're clever enough."

- "Hey, what's that supposed to mean."

- "Nothing." Paula smiled gleefully.

- "OK, I've had to go through all of that, now it's your turn. What's your name, interests, yadda yadda.

- "I'm Paula Carter, I like fashion, music, and generally hanging out with friends. I don't really dislike anything in particular, but whiny people really do get on my nerves.

- "Music? Say, you wouldn't happen to have any Scottish blood?"

Paula Carter palmed her forehead.

- "No, My name is not McCartney and never will be, so shut up about that; it's just something weird my mother came up with.

- "Ok, you liked fashion, right?" Robin tried to save what was left of the conversation. "So, why do you wear that dress? Were you going to a party before we, well, before we ended up here?"

- "I didn't choose the dress."

- "Huh?"

- "All of our clothes were changed to something different entirely when we came here. You didn't notice? I and Sophie have been talking about it since we came here."

- "Yeah, now that you mention it, I did pick my other black shirt this morning."

- "Ok, that makes sense, I guess. Sophie, you've been awfully quiet for a while now, why don't you tell Robin your theory?"

- "The two of you spoke more than enough for the three of us, and more. Anyway, the only thing our dresses have in common is a strange sense of twisted representation of one single part of our personalities…

They talked more, but Sukamon was beginning to agree with Chuumon, no matter what Patamon could offer them, this was waay too boring. Sure, that lollipop sure seemed tasty but, lollipop, lollipop, lollipop.

-"Hey, Chuumon, what was I thinking about again."

-"Dunno', why don't we go talk to those guys over there?"

-"I think Patamon said something about lollipops, lollipops, lollipops…"

-"About lollipops? Ah well, they're friends in waiting, aren't they."

-"The lollipops?"

-"No, those humans."

-"Do they have lollipops?"

-"Dunno'. Let's go ask them."

Patamon and Salamon had been one thing, at some level, they at least resembled real animals. A giant mutated toy hamburger with an animate stuffed mouse on it was just a bit weirder A person who understood the way humans work, as well as knew what had happened to the kids so far might have understood their reactions better. Sukamon and Chuumon, however, lacked both of these qualities, and therefore had no idea of why their new friends just stared at them, looking ready to start screaming, running away, attacking, or some sort of combination.

Part 3-Scanner

Vamdemon looked at the seemingly sleeping human, and then faced the decrepit creature next to it's bed.

-"So this device will probe the human's thoughts and dreams to create files on Manuel's little squad?"

-"Yes, Lord Myotismon."

-"I have told you not to use that name. I cast it away many years ago. You will refer to me as none but Lord Vamdemon."

-"Yes, Mylord."

-"Did you just deliberately disobey a direct order? Remember your place, Wizarmon. When I found you, you were but a shadow of your current self. Even the Data of the Gazimon you absorbed at the brink of death wouldn't have sustained you much longer. Do you wish to return to that pitiful existence? Do you remember what I do to those of my minions who betray me?"

-"Yes, Lord Vamdemon. I will not repeat my mistake, Lord Vamdemon."

-"Very well. Activate your device."

-"Yes, Lord Vamdemon."

Wizarmon pulled a lever, and a large screen flickered to life. Slowly, symbols aligned themselves on the screen.

**The**** Information**

**That you requested cannot**

**Be**** located, sir**

Vamdemon turned to his shaking servant.

-"Would you care to explain that to me?"

-"I, I don't understand. It was there before. I swear, Lord Vamdemon, we had gathered all of the information that you wanted."

-"I'm disappointed in you, Wizarmon. Do not force me out of my habits again for no good reason."

-"No, Lord Vamdemon."

-"Now leave. If you cannot get what I wanted from the boy, I will have to use my own methods.

Wizarmon left the room, and wandered through a series of randomly placed hallways, bridges and stairs, often turning in seemingly impossible directions, and walking on the walls, up corners or, even worse, on the roof. Apparently, the architect had never heard of Euclidean geometry, or, if he had, had dismissed it as unnecessary. Ultimately, he arrived in a large, dimly lit room, in which four other human-like Digimon were playing cards. A large lizard Digimon was lying in a corner, immobile.

-"Wizarmon. How'd it go?" A slimmer version of Wizarmon, clad I red, raised his eyes from his game for a moment.

-"Not like I expected, FlaWizarmon." Wizarmon walked over to the only empty chair at the table and was dealt a hand by a mask-clad Digimon.

-"Thank you, Pokermon." He took a look at the cards, and pulled out some coins. "Raise one gil."

-"I fold, and grab three gil." An exact copy of Wizarmon, only white-clad, pulled some coins to his side of the table, and put down his cards face down on the table.

-" I raise one more gil." A female Digimon, the only one at the table, pulled up a coin from her pocket.

-"Good cards, eh, Witchmon." FlaWizarmon put down his cards, too. "Then, I fold too."

-"As I would guess of you, Fla." Witchmon said with a sing-song voice.

Witchmon and Wizarmon were now the only ones left at the table, save for Pokermon, of course, but he was the dealer.

-"Raise one gil." Wizarmon looked at his cards. His face was hidden in shadows, but his eyes shone with an eerie happiness. He put a coin on the table.

Witchmon put a coin of her own there.

Wizarmon put down a coin.

Witchmon and Wizarmon both exchanged one of their cards for new ones from the deck and took one card from each others hands.

Then, they both put down their respective hands on the table and took half of the pile each.

-"What?" the white-clad Wizarmon stared at the table. "You were bluffing?"

-"Correct, Sorcerymon. We were bluffing. Though I have to admit, it took a while to realize what Witchmon was doing. And on that note, nice work with the database, Witchmon."

-"That was your orders."

Wizarmon laughed.

-"I guess it was."

**Ok, villain introduction down. Pokermon, by the way, is a fabrication of my own, so don't bother searching for his statistics. I'll put out a small file on him once I've showcased his combat capabilities in the story.**** Oh, and if you didn't notice, they're not playing poker, so don't bother me about messing up the rules.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their**** respective owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**


	8. Frustration

Chapter 6

Part 1- Reports

- "So they not only failed with their mission, but deliberately revealed themselves to the very people they were supposed to be spying on?" It took quite a bit to get Manuel riled up, but this, this was more than enough. "With allies like this, it's no wonder we are where we are today. At least they seem to be united again now, according to Salamon, anyway."

- "I had literal minutes to find someone to help me before I lost track of one of the groups, I did what I could." Patamon thought a bit before adding. "I don't think Salamon could have done much better, had it been her watch."

- "No, I guess she couldn't." Manuel sighed. "Why did it end up like this? After all that's happened, I get one chance to make up for everything I've done, and what do I do? I somehow manage to miss with a spell that's supposed to find its target on its own."

- "Manuel, don't be so hard on yourself, if it wasn't for you there wouldn't be a fighting chance at all."

- "A fighting chance? Hah. There isn't one anyways. I do one final push to fix it all when it's almost shot to hell, and I somehow manage to make things even worse by dragging in a bunch of unrelated nobodies and sending them off to a battle where they have no chance of winning and…" Manuel took a deep breath, but somehow managed to lose the air almost immediately.

- "What?" Patamon cast a troubled look at Manuel, and followed his caretaker's gaze to the table. "Oh no."

- "Yeah, the crest of Light is gone."

- "It's not just that." Patamon sniffed. "I smell bat."

- "As in a newly digivolved DemiDevimon out for trouble, I hope." However, Manuel didn't sound very hopeful.

- "No, as in Him." Patamon looked as grim as a winged hamster could look, which in his case was quite a lot.

- "Great, and here I thought that that was the one problem I had managed to get rid of. Guess I deserve that for believing that anything ever gets better where I'm involved."

Part 2- Square Town

In retrospect, Thomas realized that he shouldn't have left his drink unchecked during his lunch. His dreams had gone from random and weird, to downright psychedelic. The talking animals were understandable, they were probably just something he had caught up during some kid's show, and the random road signs were his mind's way of telling him to stop wandering around in circles and face his life head-on. However, he couldn't quite figure out the metaphorical meaning of a small town made out of cushions, apparently populated by giant Easter eggs. The reason had to be some kind of mind-altering substance.

- "So, any particular reason why Paula hates you, Thomas?" Michael asked while Matilda went ahead.

- "Sophie's fault." Thomas answered spitefully.

- "She again? What's she done this time?"

- "Tried to set me up. Here I was, talking to Paula about something completely unimportant and she has the nerve to, to…"

- "I think I understand. You've got it hard." Michael sat down on a cushion. "I say you keep trying."

- "What? No way, Sophie's pure evil, there's no point in talking to her."

- "No, with Paula. You know what I mean."

- "You're a very annoying person sometimes, Michael, you know that, right?"

Michael merely smiled.

- "I'm just trying to help."

- "Brother, there are other things here." Matilda said. "Chicks, from the looks of it."

- "Wait, there are girls here as well?" Thomas looked up at the girl where she sat, perched on a particularly large stack of cushions.

- "No, babies. Except they're non-human." Matilda corrected him.

Michael and Thomas climbed onto the stack as well, and, just as Matilda had said, there they were. Dozens of small rock cradles, each with something tiny, but distinctly inhuman, silently sleeping in it.

- "What are they?" Thomas asked Michael.

- "Maybe we should take one home, I'm sure the girls would like them." Michael joked.

Suddenly, Matilda tensed.

- "Duck!" She shouted, and threw herself and the others off the cushion-stack. Moments later, a lightning bolt grazed the place where the three had been standing.

- "You keep your hands to yourselves, dirty thieves." A small, rodent-like creature, not unlike a red and blue meerkat, had somehow gotten up behind them, and was now standing dangerously close to Thomas's face.

- "Would you believe me if I said he was joking?" Thomas said.

- "Can not be too careful. This is the Primary Village, and I cannot risk anyone harming it."

- "Wait, the Primary what?" Thomas blurted out before he remembered that the hallucinations probably wouldn't bother making sense.

- "You do not know about the Primary Village? How can you not remember the birthing place of all Digimon? Are you fish?"

- "The name's Thomas, thank you for asking, and I am definitively not a fish."

- "Ok Thomasmon, just one question, why were you here, if not to steal all of my babies?"

- "We're just lost. And it's just Thomas. No 'mon' or anything."

- "Ookay? I you are not fish and your names do not end with 'mon', then what are you? Biblios? No, they are eradicated. Humans? You are humans, right?" He laughed, as if he had just told a spectacular joke.

- "The second one."

- "Good one, good one. If I did not still think you were thieves, I would consider inviting you to supper. No, seriously, what are you?"

- "Yes, we are humans." Michael said. "A person who calls himself Manuel summoned us here. And while I'm at it, Manuel seems very much human."

- "Oh. Oh god." The rodent seemed to have lost his breath. Eventually, he found it. "I mean, he's been talking about it ever since he came here, but I never thought he'd go through with that stupid plan."

- "Ok, now, what plan?" Thomas said.

- "I don't know, I mean, I've heard a bit about how he got this magic scroll or something from his old place, and now he's trying to perform some incredibly special super-spell to summon a bunch of Humans from the Human World, but I never put much stock in it. Crazy, that's what that man is."

- "Ok, can you…" Thomas began to say something, but Matilda stopped him.

- "Are we still a threat?"

- "Well, I guess not. Not now. I mean, if a bunch of Humans came and tried to take a Digi-egg from here, I bet he'd actually be sad if I stopped them."

- "Good." Michael said. "Now that we've lowered our proverbial swords, I'd like to introduce myself. Michael Dale." Michael kneeled down and extended his hand.

- "My name is Elecmon, Michaeldale." Elecmon said and shook it.

- "Just Michael, thank you." Michael laughed.

- "And I'm Matilda Dale." Matilda said and shook Elecmon's paw.

- "Elecmon."

- "I already told you my name, but we might as well make it formal. Thomas Anderson." They shook.

- "Elecmon. Now, what would you all think about a nice fish."

- "Is there anything more?" Thomas asked.

- "Well, there is more fish. And then you can relax and help me with the babies. Except if you help with the babies there won't be any relaxing."

- "Sounds like a good idea." Michael said. "Except we'll have to go after we've eaten. No insult to your hospitality, but we came here with some other humans, and we split up. Thomas especially needs to meet them again."

- "What? I never said any such thing."

- "No." Michael replied calmly. "But you were thinking, weren't you?"

- "No, I wasn't."

- "Do you have any idea what they are talking about?" Elecmon asked Matilda.

- "Probably a girl."

- "Oh, yeah. Always been wondering about that. What's the point, really?"

- "Among humans, it's a form of procreation."

- "That sounds weird. How's that working out for you?"

- "We prefer not to mention the specifics."

- "Oh. Yeah, we don't really like to talk about our life cycles, either. So, how about you help me go get the fish?"

- "Maybe. But Michael said that we should go looking for the others, and when he says something, he always has a good reason."

- "Yeah, except if you stay with me, I can help you with the searching. I know some guys on the island, and they know some other guys too. Because, let me tell you, this area is very hard to find your way on, and people who walk through it usually end up on strange tracks. If you do not get help from me, you will never find them."

Of course, saying such a thing is known as tempting fate, and is a very dangerous business. If done without caution, the universe itself conspires to prove you wrong. Like what happened in this case. Elecmon had barely finished the sentence when Sophie, Paula, and Robin came rushing out of the forest, hunted by the confused pair of Sukamon and Chuumon.

- "Then again, I could be wrong." Elecmon added.

Part 3- Birthright

There was a rustle among the unhatched Digi-eggs.

- "They're here. They're here. They're here." Said a small voice that continued to repeat itself for a while.

- "I believe that they will choose me." Followed the next one, a voice full of pride.

- "Are you stupid?! My shell is much shinier." Snapped a third one.

- "But mine has the nicest patterns." Said a vain voice.

- "I am by far the strongest one of us. Oh yes, they will choose me." The fifth voice was a cold, calculating one.

- "Uh, guys. How can you know all that?" Said a somewhat goofy sixth voice. "We're inside of our shells, so we can't see what we look like, and how are they supposed to know our power levels? Besides, they might choose all of us."

- "Shut up!" Said voices one through five in unison.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Neither do I own any Digimon except for those that are created by me. They are owned by their respective owners. I do however own any and all characters I have created on my own and they may not be used by anyone else except those who want to (though it would be kind to ask first).**


End file.
